Ancient Discoveries

We just keep finding out how incredibly smart our ancient relatives were. We had assumed the only long range communication had to do with torches and fires. It is easy to believe this since we are not talking about the industrial age. It turns out this was not always the case. I just read an interesting article on something called the hydraulic telegraph. It seems an ancient Greek who lived about 350 B.C. was very unhappy with long range communication, because while raising a torch might indicate some danger the message could not be qualified any further. The ancient Greek was Aeneas and he developed an incredible system. Two water jugs were used. In the middle of each jug was a sort of ruler, but instead of inches being indicated messages were. As the water emptied out of the jug more messages got revealed. Both jugs had the same messages. When there was an emergency a torch would indicate it was time to pull the plug on both jugs. The water drained slowly and when the sender reached the message he wanted to send, he would raise his torch again and both jugs would have the plugs put in again and both would reveal the same message, because the water would have drained to the same point in both jugs, of course both jugs had to be exactly the same and have the same rate of drainage.

It seems there is no more doubt about it. Many ancient humans lived on land which is now under the water. Ancient underwater ruins are being found all over the world. It is even more incredible to note some of them are not found in oceans, but at the bottom of lakes. We know we live on a dynamic planet and this is just more proof of the fact. When archaeologists were doing a high-resolution mapping of the ocean bottom near Sicily they were surprised to find a huge stone monolith which was 39 feet across. It was sitting at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The researchers couldn’t believe what they found and sent divers down to photograph their find. The monolith is located about 37 miles south of Sicily. It is believed the monolith is about 10,000 years old. One of the amazing features of it is a hole which was cut through a thick block of stone. The hole has a diameter of 24 inches and there are also two other holes cut through the stone. It is believed the monolith has to be man-made and cannot be natural due to certain features it has such as very regular stones and the previously mentioned holes. One researcher said, "There are no reasonable known natural processes that may produce these elements."

A British archaeologist who works at the University of Arizona is saying he has discovered the tomb of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. He said her tomb is hidden in plain sight and we just missed it. According to Dr. Reeves the tomb is located within the tomb of Tutankhamun. The archaeologist spotted cracks in the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb and believes these cracks could indicate two doorways behind the walls that were not noticed before. All this was discovered through enhanced digital photography. It could also indicate another storeroom for Tut’s tomb. It is now believed the tomb may continue on and only a fraction of what it contains may have been found. Tutankhamun’s tomb was the most complete tomb ever found in Egypt and the subject of the King Tut curse. For years archaeologists have wondered about the small size of the tomb and its strange layout. The answer might just be the tomb is a lot bigger than we think. Will the mummy of Nefertiti be found there? The only way we will know for sure is to get back inside and look.

There have been quite a few old swords found which contained strange writing which is yet to be deciphered. A medieval sword from the 13th century was found in the River Witham in Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. It was discovered in 1825 and bears a strange inscription, which is yet to be figured out. The inscription is “+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+.” This inscription is engraved in gold on the sword. It could be some sort of magical blessing to make the sword more powerful since this was not unknown at the time. At least some of the letters, like the “+” and “X” could also represent symbols such as the cross or something similar. Whatever is written on the sword has been fooling us for almost 200 years. One other guess is the sword maker used this to advertise he forged the sword.

One of the greatest mysteries of the New World is what happened to the people who started the first English colony at Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The island was settled by 115 people in 1587 and their leader was John White. He went to England later that year for supplies and when he returned everyone had disappeared. Ever since that time the disappearances have been investigated without any results. Two teams of archaeologists now have said they have an answer to the puzzle. They think the colonists divided into two groups and then went inland. Each group joined with a different Native American tribe. One of the groups of archaeologists have been excavating a site on Hatteras Island named Cape Creek and found several different European objects. This location is only 50 miles from Roanoke Island. The objects were traced back to the colonists. One of the objects was a slate with the letter M written on it and another object was a lead pencil. The other group of archaeologists were excavating a different site which was 50 miles north of Roanoke Island on the mainland. They also found objects which could have been used by the lost colony. This site is known as Site X. Having said this, the objects could have been taken from the dead bodies of the colonists and brought to their current locations.

A labyrinth which is over 2,000 years old has been discovered in India by archaeologists. It is the second biggest one every found in India. It was discovered in Gedimedu. The size is 56 feet by 56 feet and it lays along an ancient coastal trade route. It bears a similar pattern to ancient Greek mazes found drawn on clay tablets dating back to 1,200 B.C. A temple was built over the top of it, covering about 40 percent. The archaeologists are asking the government to remove the temple so the entire maze can be seen.